Friday, November 07, 2003

Globalization

Our comrades in Moscow didn't get the memo that flash mobs are over, or the one about political rallies not counting as flash mobs, but we'll give them credit for at least not being 20 years behind in a Western cultural fad. Viva la internet.

And you have to admire these kids for managing to combine obscure Western hipster fad with communist propaganda and, well, Keanu Reeves. Yes this was a flash mob held by young KPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) members, outside a screening of The Matrix Revolution or whatever this crappy installment is called.

Pourquoi? you may ask?

Says organizer Oleg Bondarenko (who with his fellow mobbers was sporting the requisite Soviet Civil War helmet, Matrix shades, and T-shirt with neon letters reading "We are Neo-Communists" and "Destroy the Matrix"):

"'The Matrix' is one of the few Western movies that raises a philosophical issue: the virtuality of our existence.

One can draw a clear parallel between the movie's theme and what is happening in our country today. Our leader is in fact a virtual one. There is no Putin as a leader, but a group of people behind him who are taking all of the decisions for the 'Matrix president.'"